Office 2003 Basic Edition

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Daryl - 23 May 2007 07:50 GMT

I've been planning on writing an Add-in for Outlook and Word using VSTO, but
now I have found out that it doesn't support the Basic Edition of 2003, which
all of our users have. Just wondering if there is a way around this?

If not, how can I write an add-in for Outlook and Word. I believe that you
can write COM Add ins, but what development environment would I need to do
that, and how much more difficult is it than using VSTO?

Thanks,

Daryl.

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Norman Yuan - 23 May 2007 16:12 GMT

You need Office2003Pro or stand-alone Outlook2003, not the one in Office2003
standard/Basic, for VSTO development, period. If I cannot make it to VSTO
with uses' Office suite (standard/basic), I'd rather go with VBA than COM
add-in. and wait for VSTO to get mature and to drop the "Pro Edition" limit
someday (if it eventually happens).

> I've been planning on writing an Add-in for Outlook and Word using VSTO,
> but
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Daryl.

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Daryl - 24 May 2007 07:30 GMT

Thanks for your reply Norman,

I have just realised that I can probably use a shared add-in created in
Visual Studio. That gives a choice of using C# or VB.Net. If I am
reasonably comfortable with VBA, is VB.Net the better option for creating a
shared add-in?

Daryl.

> You need Office2003Pro or stand-alone Outlook2003, not the one in Office2003
> standard/Basic, for VSTO development, period. If I cannot make it to VSTO
> with uses' Office suite (standard/basic), I'd rather go with VBA than COM
> add-in. and wait for VSTO to get mature and to drop the "Pro Edition" limit
> someday (if it eventually happens).

Reply to this Message

Norman Yuan - 24 May 2007 16:50 GMT

Shared add-in with C# or VB.NET is simply .NET version of COM Add-in.
Comparing to pure COM add-in, it adds a layer of .NET COM-interop, but you
get access to the powerful .NET framework. If you are good at .NET thing,
and your project need some advanced functionalities, which is difficult to
do with VB/VBA, then...

If what you want to do is not that complicated, VBA is a lot easier to
deploy than COM add-in, whether it is done with VB6 or .NET, you can simply
hand your user a copy of "VbaProject.OTM" to be placed in "C:\Documents and
Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\" folder.

> Thanks for your reply Norman,
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>> limit
>> someday (if it eventually happens).

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Daryl - 25 May 2007 07:48 GMT

Thanks again Norman,

I've managed to create a simple shared add-in today using VB.Net, so it
looks like that is what I will be using.

If I have further questions about shared add-ins is this the group to ask
them in, or is there a better group here for that?

Daryl.

> Shared add-in with C# or VB.NET is simply .NET version of COM Add-in.
> Comparing to pure COM add-in, it adds a layer of .NET COM-interop, but you
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> hand your user a copy of "VbaProject.OTM" to be placed in "C:\Documents and
> Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\" folder.

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Norman Yuan - 25 May 2007 15:35 GMT

This NG is for VSTO. Since you do Shared(COM) Add-in, there may be other NGs
more suitable. I am not sure. At least, you could try various
"microsoft.public.outlook.xxxxx" or "microsoft.public.office.xxxxxx" NGs.

> Thanks again Norman,
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>> and
>> Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\" folder.

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